


The Captain's Chair

by Hardrada



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Bit sad, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:41:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27012190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hardrada/pseuds/Hardrada
Summary: A bit of tooth rottingness.  It's the end of an era: the Enterprise is being scrapped and Bones and Jim, now into retirement age, are saying goodbye to the ship.  There is mention of a crew member's death.
Relationships: James T. Kirk/Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Comments: 6
Kudos: 38





	The Captain's Chair

**Author's Note:**

> Another bit of fluff for you. This is a little bit sad perhaps, in that they're saying goodbye to their ship. There is mention of a death of one of the crew so be warned.

Jim eased himself into the Chair, stretching his sore leg out in front of him to gain a bit of relief. It had been badly broken some ten years previously and never healed properly, despite Bones’ best attentions. 

“I can’t make it better, love”, he had said, stroking Jim’s greying hair back from his face with hands that were older now and beginning to show the first signs of arthritis. But still steady. Still the only hands Jim would ever trust to not hurt him. “You’ve damaged it too often - hurt yourself too often - over the years”. He had smiled, very softly, very kindly. “We’re too old to mend now, kid”. They both laughed at the familiar term of endearment, one that was completely inappropriate now.

“I’ve finally done something you can’t fix, my Bones”, Jim had said. “It’s taken me most of my life to find it”.

“So stop doing it now then. No more, okay?”

“Okay”. Jim had nodded and had meant it. He had been so tired then, so tired of - well, of space, although he didn’t want to admit it. He was done. He had just wanted to finally go off into the sunset with Bones for whatever remained of their lives together. But it had taken another ten years to get to that stage.

But here they both were. Well, the three of them: the _Enterprise_ , Bones and Jim himself. He sighed and looked around. “Well, old girl”, he said softly. “It’s all over for us now. We’re all at the end of our journey”. He leaned back in the chair, his hands automatically curling around the ends of the arms, fingers sliding into the ridges he had worn there over the years. He rested his head against the back of the chair and let his mind wander, eyes unfocused as he remembered those days.

__

The first time Jim Kirk sat in the Captain’s Chair (he always thought of it with capital letters), he was still a cadet, and really just looking for somewhere to sit down. He had been knocked about just a bit too much even for someone like him, who had spent a life being knocked about, and following close on a massive allergic reaction, a space jump and a fight with angry (and, it turned out, future) Romulans, he was just worn out. So it didn’t really register where he was.

“Out of the chair”, Spock had said and he had responded like Pavlov’s Cat, obedient to the sound of an order. It had annoyed the hell out of him at the time, and with hindsight it still did. He and Spock had grown into a close team, a good, tight team, but he had never learned to really like the Vulcan. He had tried so hard; he knew that the other Jim, the one he could have been if the Romulans hadn’t done their fucking-with-the-whole-continuum thing, loved Spock in many ways, but this Jim, the Jim who was sitting in the Captain’s Chair, his whole heart had already been taken by the time their paths had crossed, and so there had been admiration and - probably - affection. But that had been it.

“Hey”, a much-loved voice broke into his thoughts, and he smiled. “What are you doing?”

“Hey”, he said in an echo. “You ready?”

Bones moved over and stood just behind him and to one side. Where he had been standing for the past thirty years.

“I don’t think I am”, Bones replied. “And you’re sure as hell not. When I came in just then, you were looking a long time ago, weren’t you? You looked like a kid again”. He put his hand on Jim’s shoulder. “We’ve spent most of our lives aboard this thing, do you realise that?”

“We’ve had a good time though, haven’t we?” Jim reached up to cover Bones’ hand with his own. “Christ, we were so young then”.

“We’re still not ancient, old man”, Bones protested. “Bit rusty round the edges perhaps”. He paused. “I look at you and I still see that wild kid from the shuttle. He’s still there in your eyes”.

“And I look at you and I see …” Jim paused. “I see the man who saved me. Christ, what would our lives have been like…?” He shook his head and looked around the empty bridge, wiring exposed in places where the souvenir hunters had already started to take their mementoes of the legend. “Look at this place”. He looked up then and smiled, and Bones smiled in return, gentler now that he was older, not so angry at the world. 

“We used to laugh at the thought that one day we’d retire and live on a farm”, Jim said, “remember? The shit I used to come out with about retiring and living off the land”. 

“And now we’re doing it”, Bones said. “We’re mad”.

“Yep”. Jim smiled and then laughed, and Bones laughed as well, for no reason. Just that Jim’s smile was still the sun and moon as far as he was concerned, and always would be.

“Remember the first time I sat in this?” Jim patted the arm of the chair. “I was a baby. We all were”.

“Well it wasn’t this one technically, was it?” Bones corrected. “You broke that one. And the one after that, as I recall. This was third generation”.

“Oh, don’t be pedantic”, Jim said dismissively. “You know what I mean”. He paused for a moment. “You know, all these years I’ve known where to find you. You were always going to be right where you are now”. He squeezed Bones’ hand. “That’s meant worlds to me, you know. Everything”.

Bones didn’t answer. Jim didn’t need a response. He was just - burbling. Which was fine, because this was a heartbreakingly sad/happy moment. It was the end of the line for the _Enterprise_ and the end of the line for Jim. And for himself. And for the rest of the crew that had been together for so long. “Take as long as you need, love”, he said. “I’ll be right here”.

“We’ve done some shit, haven’t we?” Jim smiled. “Shit that no other crew could have done. We were fucking perfect. We still are. Uhura and Spock - who’d have thought that would last? Those two pair-bonded, Uhura teaching little Vulcans. Bet she’s terrifying. Sulu and Ben and the kids, so fucking happy living on Yorktown. He’s so domestic”. Jim huffed a laugh. “Scotty… Do we have any idea what Scotty’s doing?”

“I don’t think Scotty has any idea”, Bones said. “Last I heard, he and Keenzer were working out how to make it possible to travel between parallel universes. They’ve probably gone after Archer’s beagle. They’ll turn up again, they always do. Keenzer misses Kevin”.

“Kevin was just weird”, Jim said. “And let’s face it, he was a fucking stowaway. He only got aboard by hitching a ride on my head”. He frowned. “Oh, that sounded bad”. He paused for a moment. “And little Chekov. Just gone too soon, that kid. He had the world in front of him”.

“Yeah. Damn good kid, that one. Saved our lives more than once”. They were both silent for a moment as they remembered Pavel Chekov, their bright-eyed, eager boy genius who had burned too brightly and too quickly, leaving them behind as he soared into the sky, paving the way for them to follow when they were ready.

After another moment, Bones, determined to lighten the mood, said “Remember when you fell off the cliff and Chekov had to carry you out because we couldn’t pick you up on the scanners?”

“He didn’t ‘carry me out’”, protested Jim. “And I didn’t ‘fall off a cliff’. I slipped down a bit of a slope, and had to lean on him for a moment or two”.

“And the broken ribs?” Bones asked mildly. “And the sprained ankles. Ankles, my love, count them”.

“Sore landing”.

“That’s what happens when you fall off a slight slope”. Bones laughed, and Jim joined in.

“I’m going to miss this”. Jim finally pushed out of the Captain’s Chair for the last time. “But we have a whole life ahead of us”. He reached out and took Bones’ hand in his, raising it and kissing each of the slightly swollen knuckles. “Who would have thought it, my Bones? That we would make it this far, and still be together”. He looked down thoughtfully at the chair. “Wonder if I could unscrew that…”

“Wouldn’t look at all suspicious if you walked out with that under your arm”, Bones commented. “And where would you put it at home?”

“In front of that big picture window”, Jim said. “I could sit in it and pretend I was still in charge”.

“Sweetheart, you will always be in charge, you know that”. Bones executed a complicated manoeuvre and somehow ended up with Jim wrapped in his arms. Jim looked surprised to be there, but not displeased. “Oh”, he said. “Hello”.

“Hello”. Bones smiled and raised a finger, tracing the lines on Jim’s face, every single one of them a memory. First Christmas together; first leave together; first argument… and these across his forehead. First time they had met; first time they had kissed; first time they had fucked; first time they had made love… So many memories. Jim smiled at him, the sunshine grin again, perhaps just a little faded with the years, the eyes still as bright and still as full of mischief. So much happiness and love in that face.

“It’s not the _Enterprise_ ”, he said and Jim quirked an eyebrow. “It’s not the _Enterprise_ that makes the memories. We do. We carry those memories. We carry the people with us, and always will. We’ve had great times on this ship, and we’ve had shit times. But we carry all those times with us, right?”

“Right”, Jim said, closing his eyes and leaning his head against Bones’ shoulder. “We carry them with us, and we move on into our next lives”. He swallowed and Bones heard the catch in his voice. “But I’m going to miss her”.

“She’ll always live”, he said softly, dropping a kiss onto the back of Jim’s head. “Come on, if you’re ready”.

Jim straightened with a shaky sigh, and blinked rapidly. “Yeah, I’m ready”.

With a final look around, a final nod to all the memories, a final long look at the Chair (he could hear Pike’s voice suddenly, clear as a clarion call, “You don’t respect the Chair”. _Oh Chris, I learned_ , he thought. _I learned the hard way_ ), and then he turned abruptly and took Bones’ hand. Bones smiled softly and led Jim out of the bridge for the last time, and into their new life.

Just as the door hissed closed, Jim glanced up, and saw them - saw himself, young and stupid and irresponsible, saw Spock with the raised eyebrow of astonishment; Uhura with that weird _thing_ in her ear (and what was that for?); Sulu and Chekov ( _oh, Pavel, you missed so much!_ ); Scotty ( _my imagination, so why shouldn’t he be there?_ ) and of course, his beloved Bones. His right hand. His sun and moon and stars. They were laughing, and young and they had forever in front of them. They were invincible.

And then the doors hissed shut and it was silent. But they were still in there, Jim knew, all together and all young and full of life. They always would be. And the ship would always ring with their voices and their memories.

_Goodbye, lady_ , Jim thought as Bone led him through the bay. He saw the engineers and mechanics spot them, and recognise them. He heard their whispers. But he ignored them. Now they were just Jim and Bones; two old guys who had loved each other for thirty years, and who had travelled the stars together.

And who were now going home.


End file.
